PERSPECTIVES IN MINIATURE: May 2016

ARTIST STATEMENT

In the words of Wilbur Smith "War is the game played by old men with the lives of the young". The pawn in this game is the combat soldier, represented by the miniature toy soldier; an insignificant being on the battlefield. Combat is the most intense moment of war, where life and death balances on a knife's edge. The results are terrifying and reveal the worst part of our human nature. Conversely, there are moments when it exudes the best of our human spirit. Most of the miniatures you see here are diligently researched from historical sources and handcrafted between scales of 1/35 to 1/16 (approx 50mm to 120mm). The intricate rendition of human expression and fine details not only demonstrates the level of craftsmanship but also serves as a reminder of the fragile nature of human life. I represent no political bias though my miniature creations. My aim is to portray humanity through the chronicles of military history and thus it is my pleasure that I present to you my weblog Perspectives in Miniature.

Calvin Tan

WWII GERMAN UNIFORMS - PERSONAL MIXES BY CALVIN TAN

In conjunction with AK Interactive, this exclusive Gen 3 acrylic paint set is specially composed with the essential colours that I use to render WWII German Uniforms. It contains 18 colours and a small pamphlet with my personal colour mixes. If you are keen to acquire all the colours on my palette to paint a field grey tunic, a splinter pattern zeltbahn, an oak-leaf pattern smock or the Kharkov anorak, look no further, this is the set for you to get started.

CALVIN TAN'S BASIC GUIDE TO FIGURE PAINTING

This instructional DVD published by Model Art magazine was primarily developed for the beginner armour and diorama modeller in mind. The video presentation will feature a variety of easy to master techniques used to render a 1/35 scale plastic injected moulded figure.Topics include proper paint application techniques, choice of brushes as well as some little tricks for painting fine detail. It is fundamentally a showcase of some of my methods and techniques for painting military figures and I am certain it will prove beneficial for any modeller who wishes to improve on figure painting. It is currently available in both Japanese and English.

CALVIN TAN'S GUIDE TO CONVERTING AND PAINTING FIGURES

In this third instalment, I will share my techniques and materials to customize and detail an inexpensive stock plastic figure. Watch as I take you through the steps on how I modify a pose, model details such as hands, belts and webbing and insignias. Learn about working effectively with epoxy putty as well as plastic styrene and paper. As a continuation from my first two DVDs, I will demonstrate how to model and paint a simple groundwork as well as an alternate approach using a monochromatic underpainting to render both a field grey tunic and the World War 2 German Splinter Camouflage pattern on a helmet cover. If you have enjoyed and benefitted from those previous titles, this edition will be a welcome addition to your journey in scale figure modelling – regardless of your current skill level. It is my sincere hope that this could inspire you to embark on your own creative adventure in this fantastic hobby. .

Saturday, 7 May 2016

FeR Miniatures - Hauptmann, Operation Barbarossa, 1941

Labels: FeR Miniatures - Hauptmann Operation Barbarossa 1941 Posted by Calvin Tan at 16:50

After another long hiatus, I have finally found some precious time to wet my brushes on this 1/16 scale bust from FeR Miniatures sculpted by Pedro Fernández. The fact is that this bust is Michael's souvenir item from attending Fernando and Jaume's painting workshop in Korea last November. Only a small part of the face was painted by Michael but he lost interest in it and I offered to bring it to completion.

In retrospect this turned out to be a very quick, casual and fun painting exercise spanning over three days. Having recently been reacquainted to the painting manner of the Neo-impressionist - in particular Maximilien Luce, close scrutiny of this recent endeavor will reveal a variety of different hues like green and orange for the face and magenta for the tunic.

For some out there, you might think that this boarders on the crazy than unconventional. Therefore to dial things back a little, consider the conventional approach of using black to darken the base color to produce a shade for the shadow and white to lighten the base color to produce a tint for the highlight. The offspring between black and white is non other than gray. Excellent for subdued results as it produces in a cold and dull appearance - but extremely unappealing when over used. (I would like to call them "Grey Marriages"- often dwell either faraway or in the shadows). Most Impressionist artists use pure hues instead of adding black for shades for shadows to circumvent this. This is known as the analogous color scheme. An example is the use of Hookers Green (a hue color) to shade Sap Green (hue color). This results in a very rich and warm appearance - a characteristic style of the Impressionists. No doubt the visual results are rich and vibrant, it also appears artificial and synthetic. As a counter measure, the impressionists also incorporated the use of complementary color schemes in their works.

Observe that I have also opted to retain some brush strokes instead of smoothing them over as in this scale the different colors and gradient transitions can be optically "blended" when viewed in the flesh - as it related to the Divisionist principles employed by the Neo-impressionists.

Notwithstanding the absence of a step-by-step photo-documented journal, I do hope that a conceptual overview of my current approach will be just as beneficial and enlightening.

On a lighter note, here are some pictures from my recent holiday trip with the Mrs to Korea last week.